This is an open letter to those students who have been accepted EA by UChicago as well as ED by another school –
Congratulations to your ED acceptance by your 1st choice school! If by some mistake you have not withdrawn your application to UChicago, you need to do that now. If you have been accepted by UChicago, you need to immediately decline the acceptance. If you have not turned down your UChicago offer, what you are doing is wrong, immoral, hideous, and simply disgusting. You are hurting those current UChicago applicants as well as future applicants from your own high school to that ED school as your high school will no doubt be blacklisted by your ED school.
For UChicago: since you most likely have received the list of students accepted by that ED school, you should do the honorable thing and not participate in this game of competitive shopping for better FA packages, poaching, or whatever you want to call it. Think about it – do you really want to have anything to do with this student who just blatantly renegaded the agreement he/she signed with the ED school? Didn’t you pay attention to your own admission criteria where under the category of “Character/personal qualities”, it is listed as “very important”? Do you really want to have anything to do with such student who has shown no regard for the future of the scores of students that will be affected by his/her actions? By applying to that ED school, this student must have done the NPC and felt comfortable with the FA numbers before he/she submitted the application. By not immediately accepting the ED school offer, it can only mean one of two things: this student cannot do grade level math, or has questionable moral character. Either way, you will be making a mistake by admitting such student into your UChicago community.
This process is difficult for everyone, and certainly for parents like you and I. I’ve seen my well-qualified son deferred by my alma mater (not Chicago) as well, and it has prompted a vague sense of betrayal, and a feeling that something has gone amok in the new world of college admissions. But it’s not something I dwell on, and I’m not letting it hamper my family’s search for a good school. This isn’t about me, or that kid that got in, or that other kid that’s gaming the ED system, or about the actions of the admissions reps. It’s about my son getting a good education, and he can do that at hundreds of schools besides the one I attended.
Try to keep your perspective, and take comfort in the fact that as flawed as the system may appear, in the end the “sorting hat” seems to put most students in a place where they can learn and be happy. Resist the urge to be “very upset” and you can help your kid handle his or her intense emotions more productively.
@TR250Tom, thanks for the support and encouragement. No, I am not posting this out of some kind of vague suspicion. I am posting this because there IS one student in my son’s high school who has not turned down UChicago despite being admitted ED to another (slightly lower ranked) school. Yes, I am frustrated at the system. I have come to accept that the admissions process is not “fair”. But I still believe that there’s such thing as right and wrong. Not honoring your ED pledge is wrong, and it is not right for UChicago not to rescind the the EA offer despite knowing full well that he’s gaming the system.
This is just not true. Some students can’t know what their FA package will look like, They might have divorced parents, or parents might own a small business, rental real estate, or there might be trusts in the family. The NPC just isn’t accurate for some situations. No student should withdraw their other applications until they have received and reviewed their FA package and determined that it is acceptable. Sometimes students need a review of the FA package to see if it can be improved, and they should not withdraw any other applications until that process is completed. They have the right to do this under the ED agreement, and no amount of bullying by parents whose kids got deferred should keep them from doing so.
This honestly just sounds like a bitter parent. Stop focusing on other kids and start focusing on finding other places where your child would be happy. ED students don’t have to rescind anything until their FA is final. Honestly whatever they are doing has nothing to do with you and is solely the business of those students and their schools
And even if they turn down U of Chicago, the chance of your kid getting accepted after deferral really do not change. Chances are very, very slim, and this makes no difference at all.
We should consider it from two different perspectives - admit and not admitted applicant.
As discussed before the admit needs time to consider FA. The fact that applicant is upset regarding the pending spot is valid too. In general there will be only a few spots for a particular high school for a school like Chicago. A released spot with good reason is good news for other applicants in that school.
When to decide to withdraw from others should not be too late. I think ED and EA schools want to have confirmation sooner than later. So a non-committed spot is not good for both ED and EA school.
There have been some threads regarding non-committal to ED schools. Interestingly Chicago is involved in those cases.
Hi chicago1998-
I understand your frustration and know that this can be a trying time for students and parents (I am a parent who is going through this admission cycle for the first time, so I hear you!).
One other thing I want to point out is that it is my understanding that the numbers of those admitted EA and RD are not necessarily a 1 to 1 relationship.
What I mean is when UChicago admits their EA applications, they factor a certain percentage will accept, rescind, decline, etc. So, for instance if Student A also gets in ED somewhere and rescinds their application to UChicago–the admissions office doesn’t think “oh, okay–add another spot to RD!”. There is already a loose percentage “baked in” to the EA admission rate. Yes, they may adjust if they see a huge trend of EA students declining, but overall it really doesn’t make a huge difference if a particular student rescinds right away or waits until they receive their FA package from their ED school.
Again, I know this can be a tough time, but you obviously have a talented student and I am sure they will find a great fit at a great school.